


Runner's High

by karakael



Category: GaoGaiGar
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:35:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karakael/pseuds/karakael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jay Soldato has his hands full, protecting his younger brother, coaching his school baseball team, and keeping his yakuza past under control. But when a cynical pink-haired girl runs into his life he finds himself with more than he can handle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions

The first time he saw her, she was running.

She was just a hot pink blur in the corner of his eyes, streaking by in between the whoosh of the ball and the crack of the bat.

If the game had gone better, he wouldn't have looked again, searching for an explanation for the sudden pink, but the Red Birds were losing 4 to 13 and the Green Lion's had reached the stage of the game where they were cheering for every ball the poorer team hit. The pink mirage was a welcome distraction from the sting of pride Jay felt every time the suburban school gave his team needed encouragement.

The second time he saw her, she had circled the track and was slowing into her rhythm, a young woman with bright pink hair and a tight full-body running suit. Her eyes didn't turn from the track, even as the Lion's took another base and a ball went whistling straight towards her.

A normal person would have winced, looking at the certain collision between attractive high-schooler and high-speed ball, but Jay simply watched the arc, curious as to how the girl would react to the blow.

But she stopped, a second before the ball hit her, and plucked it out of the air without a thought. Then, without breaking a sweat, she threw the ball straight back into the field, hitting the runner on the back hard enough to send the boy stumbling to the ground.

The laughter in the stands indicated that this was not the first time something like this had happened, and by the time Jay turned back to the girl, she was already pounding her way around the corner of the sports building, eyes back onto the horizon, not a single falter in her step.

Who _was_ this girl?

\------------------ 

"As always, it is the students responsibility to deal with cases of bullying." Palpareda explained. "We cannot expect children to grow into adults if they are never given the opportunity to defend themselves."

"Yes, I know that." Taiga hissed, glaring at the vice-principle. "So (one) why aren't there any members of the student council here, and (two) why is this even happening."

Palpareda's secretary sighed. "Unfortunately, in this case student's safety outweighs our schools policy."

"After all, we cannot expect our students to defend themselves against bruits from the inner city." Palpareda continued.

Taiga raised an eyebrow. 'Bruits' was it? After all the work he'd done setting up the exchange program, and busing the students from the Red district into GGG's suburban school, the administration was still calling them 'bruits'?

Of course, Palpareda, Pillnus and the rest of their team of cronies had been against the idea from the start, so it was no surprise that this issue was coming up. Really, the shock was that it had taken so long. But it was a pity that the target of their scheme was the young man even now sitting in the outer office. Tall, stoic and a the number two of the Bird's baseball club, the boy had every indication of a kid trying his damnedest to pull himself, his little brother, and his whole team out of poverty. 

And then there was his record. As Jay Soldato was ushered into the room, Taiga reviewed the file again. Dr. Abel had been clear. If the boy was written up for any offense, no matter how small, he would not only be removed from the team, but also suspended indefinitely from the Red district as well. There was no explanation for this, no logic, and Taiga couldn't help but swear at the apparent cruelty of this boy rather than any of the others, being chosen by Palpareda.

"So, Mr. Soldato. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The green-haired punk looked levelly at Palpareda. "I didn't lay a finger on those kids."

"They say differently."

The boy didn't respond, merely crossing his arms and sinking lower into the too-small-seat they had offered him before the desk.

"Son - why don't you tell me what happened from your perspective?" Taiga prompted.

"What does it matter?" He hissed. "He won't believe it." Gesturing with his chin towards Palpareda.

The vice-principle smiled. "And there you have it, Coach. The boy already admits his guilt."

Taiga bit back a retort.

"And a good thing to, given the victims of this crime include one of your team's biggest sponsors. A lad who has already spoken out about how disappointed his father is in the direction you are taking this school, encouraging all these _lowlifes_..."

Taiga's eyes flickered over to Jay, and was shocked to see the boy looking bored, rather than angry. Palpareda was clearly bating the vice-captain, speaking in pretty words so Taiga couldn't call him on it, but none the less laying down slander not only against Jay's character, but his team and his school. In any other situation, Taiga would have already punched Palpareda's glasses from his face, but damn if there wasn't a student here...

"Miss Shishio you are **not** allowed - "

The door banged open, the pink-haired runner barging in, followed by the fluttering Pillnus.

"I'm sorry about this, Mr. Palpareda but she insisted - "

"If you're going to damn someone, at least do it on solid evidence!"

Jay sat up straighter in his chair, shocked as the girl slammed a pair of video tapes onto the desk. 

"There. Footage from the security cameras of the 'fight'. Though I'm not sure how you can claim getting a boy out of a locker and then dodging a blow counts as a 'fight'." 

"Miss Shishio!" The secretary's hand closed over the girls coat and tugged her backwards towards the door. "This is _not_ appropriate. Defacing school property by removing tapes, barging into a private meeting, using such crude language - "

The girl tugged her arm from the harpy's grasp. "Its not defacing if you pull the tapes out of the trash, is it? Especially after two months of tracking those _bastard_ bullies beating up on the Red kids."

"Renais!" Palpareda snapped. "This is a very serious accusation. Slanderous even." He snapped his fingers and summoned the silent security guard. "Pia Decam, put this girl in the detention room. We will deal with her later."

"Hold it, Vice-principle. Why don't we listen to what this girl has to say?" Taiga asked, moving the tapes out of the way just as Pillnus 'accidentally' set a tray of brimming coffee cups just over the area they had formerly occupied.

"As I _said_ Coach Taiga, we will deal with her _later_. Unless you would like to extend your vacation?"

Taiga carefully refrained from bunching his hands into fists. If Palpareda forced him into another leave of absence...

"That's enough, Mr. Palpareda!"

Five heads turned as a petite purple-haired girl politely let herself into the room, brimming with professionalism and buffered from the stairs by a large pair of glasses.

"Surely you haven't forgotten that all cases of bullying are handled by the student council?"

Palpareda opened his mouth, then shut it quickly at a glare from both Taiga and the small security camera installed upon Mikoto's clipboard.

"Miss Mikoto, I'm sure you understand that - "

"Taiga and Principle Cain specifically left the Red District students under our care!" the small girl responded, blatantly cutting the vice-principle off. "Thanks to a tip from Miss Cardiff-Shishio, we have been observing their integration for the last two weeks, and have a full report ready to offer to the administration at the next staff meeting. Thus - " She said quickly, cutting the vice-principle off once again. " _Thus_ we believe we have the right to choose to defer Mr. Soldato's punishment in this case until after a decision has been reached by the full staff."

Without waiting for approval, she whisked the tapes from Taiga, lay her paper work on the desk, and grabbed both Renais and Jay's hands and bodily pulled them from the conference room, leaving a bemused Taiga and a fuming Palpareda behind.

Taiga, looking at the shocked expression on the green-haired boy's face, mimicked almost perfectly by Pillnus and reversed into a rolled-eyed expectation upon Renais's, had difficulty hiding his laughter in front of his superior. 

Leave it to the council and Liger's brat to make even the most mundane debate into an epic political battle.

\------------------- 

"Really Renais! Charging in there and almost ruining our plan?!" Mikoto scolded as she dragged the two out of the office.

"He'd have been kicked out by now if I hadn't got there!" the girl named Renais responded. "You should have seen that poor kid's face when Jay got him out of the locker. He was trying so hard to be strong - "

"That's still no excuse! Planning Renais! Guy and I have been working on this for a _month_!"

"Working on what, exactly?" Both girls stopped bickering, and turned to the tall boy in the baseball jersey.

"...Jay, right?" Mikoto smiled brightly up into his cold eyes. "Renais and I have been documenting incidents of bullying against Red District students for the last month, ever since she saw one of your teammates get locked in a closet and only escape the next morning when a janitor noticed him."

"..." The vice-captain looked blank, carefully hiding his surprise that the 3G schools had realized the extent of the bulling going on in their hallways.

"If Palpareda hadn't moved so fast, and brought you up for suspension, we wouldn't have spilled our plan at all!" The Student Council Representative continued. "Thank goodness Guy noticed something was wrong, and sent Renais to get the tapes!"

She grinned, and pointed to the approaching team-captain. Guy Shishio, she explained, was not only 3G's baseball captain, but also the student council president and valedictorian. He'd taken personal responsibility for helping their poorer sister-school, infuriating many members of the administration while rallying most of the student body behind him.

"Which of course underestimates the work Mikoto here has done!" The orange-haired boy laughed, pulling his girlfriend into a hug. "Thanks for putting up with all this politicking, Jay. Your school deserves so much more!"

The Soldato glanced at the offered hand and turned away. What did he care about school politics or thanking his rival for saving his ass? He was here for his team, and no one else.

Guy pulled back his hand, apparently unsurprised at the brush-off. "If you're looking for Renais, I think she's heading back to the field. You'd better head back as well - "

But the boy was already gone, speeding down the hallways so fast that it would take an athlete - such as Guy - to notice that he wasn't, in fact, running, and therefore technically not breaking the school rules.

\------------------------ 

"Renais?"

The girl paused half way through her stretch, and looked up. The Red Bird boy was looking down at her, blocking her sunlight.

"Yeah?"

"...." Seemingly, the punk had nothing to say to that. Well, it wasn't as if she was going to help him out.

"If you're not here to say thanks, then why don't you get back on your bus and head home? Its about to leave, isn't it?"

"..." The pause lengthened, and then. "I drive myself home. It doesn't matter if I'm a bit late."

Well, at least he was trying. Renais stood up, and held out a hand. "Well, then, I guess I could introduce myself. Renais Cardiff-Shishio." At his slow look, she explained. "I'm Guy's Cousin. Sort of. Want to join me for a run?"

He was about to respond, reaching out his own hand in forced friendliness, when a voice called out behind him "Jay? We're going to be late for dinner!"

He looked back, found a tired looking boy waiting for him beside the track, then turned back to find the pink-haired girl already off, apparently not waiting even for a second.

Jay sighed, and shouldered his duffle-bag. 

"Who was she?" Arma asked, looking around his older brother's shoulder.

"Just a girl."

"She asked me what happened after they took you away. She didn't seem like she belonged here."

Jay blinked, considering his younger brother's words. There was something about the girl that didn't quite fit, but it wasn't as if he'd get another chance to ask about it.

"I saw you put your foot in your mouth with her~"

"Did not."

Arma laughed, the tension in his body easing slightly at the gruff tone his brother took. "Did to. You did that whole '...' thing with her. Its not _that_ hard to talk to people, you know."

"Says the boy who speaks to only one member of the opposing team, and not a single classmate."

Arma glared. "Well, that pink-haired girl seems worth talking to. She didn't even consider it was my fault for being shoved in the locker. That's why I was wondering if you could talk to her more..."

Jay sighed. "I'll do my best. No promises, though."


	2. Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay hadn't expected to ever see his savior again. But when she invites him running, he can't refuse, and is left wanting much more from their relationship...

He hadn't expected to be able to keep Arma's suggestion. The Shishio girl surely was going to disappear from his life as quickly as she disappeared from the track, a flash of pink and then the sound of her receding footsteps. 

But she showed up to the first practice after the bullying incident, informing him of his complete acquittal, and offering to help move the baseball equipment back into the sports storage shed.

After that, whenever he didn't need to get Arma home for dinner or go to his part-time job, Jay found himself running with her.

It was...amazing.

He had never thought running to be a sport he would enjoy. Until then, he had always preferred short bursts of activity, from the dash to the next base or the crack of the bat. But as a vice-captain he had little room to play the sport himself, always spending his time teaching or demonstrating techniques, never really engaging in the sport itself.

Running was different. It forced him away from the instant fight-or-flight response, pulled him from the petty needs of the day, and into a rhythmic, relaxing state. 

His councilor had once suggested he take up mediation, to deal with his issues with aggression and anger, but he had never been able to sit still for that long. Running along side Renais, concentrating on keeping pace with the shorter woman, while still straining to make his body perform to her long-distance tendencies...he began to see what the therapist was getting at. It was an hour he had completely to himself, one where he could put aside all the stressors of the day and simply _be_. 

With anyone else it wouldn't have worked. Guy had joined them one day, and chattered the entire way, tempting Jay into competitive dashes and leaving him winded with his pride riled up. It wasn't like that with Renais. She never talked, except during stretches, and as a result he found out very little about her, other than that she was Guy's cousin, related somehow through an uncle, and that she was a year behind.

She wasn't on the running team, that much was clear. They met earlier in the day, ran before school started, and their uniforms looked nothing like hers.

But he didn't question it, just like she didn't ask why he always made absolutely certain his little brother got on the bus, and never participated in the games themselves.

It was...nice, not having to explain for once. But as the days grew longer, and the end of the year approached, Jay began to wonder what would happen when he graduated. Would it be appropriate to ask if she still needed a running companion? He didn't even have her phone number - if she had one at all. 

And how the hell could he explain that he didn't just think of her as a running partner, but as something more?

\----------------

She answered all his questions rather bluntly, as on the last day of practice she slipped him a note before jogging off which contained, among other things, a phone number, a time, and a condom.

The shock must have showed on his face as Arma peered over his shoulder and he barely hid the note in time, shoving it and the offending artifact into his pocket.

Apparently, he wasn't fast enough, because Arma looked at him solemnly and said "I can get on the bus by myself tonight. Go ahead." 

Which didn't make waiting through the rest of practice any easier, with every flash of color distracting him from the play, and every tick of the clock bringing a red flush to his face.

 _She'd known_. After all his carefully hidden looks, all the times he'd forced himself not to speak, and all the silences where he should have said something but didn't...she'd known. Was this her way of saying goodbye?

"Renais! Thanks for showing up. Looks like its going to rain. I'm going to put the rest of this in the school building - would you help Jay take this to storage?"

That was all the warning he had, before the box of bats thumped solidly into his hands, Arma disappeared into the bus, and he was following Renais into the quiet equipment shack. 

Which she then immediately locked behind him and said "I trust I wasn't too subtle?"

He shook his head, flushing.

"And you're just as interested as I am, given by the looks you were giving me throughout practice."

"I didn't see you - "

"Exactly. And you kept looking."

Abruptly he wanted to wipe the smirk off her face. That was _his_ expression, and yet here she was using it against him, taking control despite her surely paltry experience in comparison to his...

The first kiss was hard, as each came into it at the same time, bonking noses and fumbling over the dark shed. He tripped over a box, sending them both sprawling into a stack of mats, and only later wondered if that had been her intention.

By then he was nuzzling her through the fabric of the running suit, pushing the sports bra she wore over it up, clutching at her breasts and listening to the soft moan she let out when he ground against her.

Perhaps words weren't so necessary after all. Two months of running in step had tuned him to her patterns, and he happily kissed his way down her front, releasing both of them from their shorts and then kissing her gloved hands.

He should have noticed something was wrong when he rolled her sleeve up and she froze. Her left hand was already in motion when he opened his eyes, and looked at the skin beneath his lips.

He saw an ugly, glowing syringe taking up the majority of her forearm, then felt the all-to-experienced blow strike him. He tumbled off of her, gasping as he clattered onto a row of boxes, and was up instantly only to find her clutching the offending arm to her breast, wain light of the evening lighting up the terror in her eyes.

"Renais, what - "

"I'm sorry I should have - "

"Hey! Is someone locked in there?" Guy's voice cut through their joint shock.

The captain rattled the lock. "Jay? Renais? You guys okay? I heard a - "

"I must have dropped the keys!" She stuttered. "Go check for them on the track!"

The boy's foot-falls receded into the distance, and the girl stood up stiffly, pulled the offending keys from the pocket of her shorts on the floor, walked over to the window, and tossed them out onto the grass.

Only then did she turn and look squarely at Jay.

"I suppose you don't want to see me any more."

Shorts half-way up his thighs, he paused. "Renais..."

"Its a Yakuza tattoo. You should know that, growing up where you do."

"..." 

He searched for words, but she was already barreling on. "No one at the school knows about it, except the administrators and the council..."

She kept talking as he straightened up, shoving his hand in his own pocked and bringing out a small tube. 

"...and no one knows about us, so you won't have to explain why -" she paused, as he dribbled gel onto his finger tips. "What are you doing?"

With a familiar motion, he dragged the make-up remover down the side of his face, revealing the three green lines that reached from ear to lips.

The pink-haired girl stumbled back, swearing under her breath. " _Zonder_."

"And you're from Bio-Net. You think I can't recognize a rival gang's sign when I see one?"

For once, it was her that was left without words, which was just when Guy returned, triumphantly bearing her keys and ruining the moment. Jay hurriedly plastered his hair over the offending tattoos and Renais tugged her shorts up quickly, returning both of them to a semblance of normality. 

"Renais! Thank gods you're alright! I was going to ask Hyumma to break down the door, but I found the keys - "

"Thank you, Guy." Renais stood, adjusting her sleeves, and walked out into the dying sunlight. "Keys, please."

"Hey, Guy, are you sure they needed rescuing?" The mo-hawked wrestler asked, looking from the frozen-faced Renais to the worried-looking Jay.

"Of course we needed rescuing." She snapped. "And I'm grateful. So are you driving me home, cousin?"

"I'll drive you." The three 3G students stopped, looking at the Red vice-captain. "I've got a motorcycle with an extra helmet. That should be fine, right?" 

"Sure!" Guy beamed. "Take care of my cousin, alright?"

\---------------------- 

"Guy...are you sure this is okay?"

"Well, if you had warned me _before_ I had opened the door that they were maybe getting it on, then this wouldn't have been a problem, right?"

Hyruma groaned. Why had he spilled the beans to the innocent Guy?

"Anyways, Mikoto and I have been trying to get them together for months. Aren't they perfect for each other?"

"If you say so, Captain. But does this really require following them home?"

"I have to make sure he doesn't do anything bad to her. I trust him, but not _that_ far. She's my innocent little cousin, after all!"


	3. Missed Oppertunities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frustrated and Embarrassed, Jay forces himself to let Renais go. But there are few people more stubborn than a teenage-girl, and few more terrifying than one in pursuit of their crush.

Storm clouds rumbled in the distance as Jay sped towards a run-down apartment complex, following unspoken directions from his passenger. Once again silence had descended on the couple, and he was grateful for the illusion of distance the helmets provided. It helped him concentrate on getting his whirling thoughts and emotions into line.

His running partner, a woman he'd intended to become far more than friends with, was from Bio-Net. Hidden out in this placid little suburb, where the worst threat one dealt with were small-minded bullies and idiot administrators, was a girl from one of the most vile, disturbing gangs of Tokyo.

Not that the Zonders had been much better. Illegal taxis and couriers, junk shops and towing firms, all that was just the surface of the gang he'd once called family. 

But Bio-Net were the drug runners. And not the light stuff either. They were the ones who sold the experimental drugs, things stolen from research labs and beaten out of interns, or concocted out of their own deep-city bunkers. Bio-Net sold the stuff that killed, not over a lifetime, but in doses packaged perfectly for children or exhausted businessmen. 

And this woman, who's branded arms even now were snug against him and making him wish she'd taken the side-car, once worked for them.

At least it explained the hardness that Arma had sensed from her. One didn't live long in the inner-city circles before innocence was stripped away, leaving cynicism in its wake. Jay could only imagine the horrors Renais must have seen. And, traitorous as his mind was, he wondered if they were anything like his.

A nudge, and he turned off of the main road, pulling into a block full of apartment complexes. Somehow, he'd pictured her living some place upscale. After all, she was Guy's cousin. But knowing what he did now, he couldn't hide the punch of familiarity. His own apartment wasn't that different. This one just didn't have a gate, or a security guard with a gun. But the cracked walls and airing futons were familiar as the sent of dumpsters and the sight of graffiti.

Another nudge, and he turned onto a slightly nicer street, with a marginally nicer building. The greenery surrounding the place was a needed distraction from the way her hands were making him feel. _Damn_ Guy. If he hadn't interrupted...where would they be now? Certainly somewhere more comfortable than on the back of his rattling bike. And perhaps she would have dealt with his...problem. At least enough so that he could think coherently about her revelation, and not scare her off with the truth.

What would she think, if she knew how much a weight her tattoos raised off of his shoulders? How much he wanted to ask her, to listen, to pick apart her experiences and compare them with his own? What had brought her here, to this safe haven away from the monstrosities that happened in the city? How had she escaped, when freeing himself had been next to impossible?

And the body beneath that tight running suit...how much of it was covered in tattoos like his? Knowing her own skin, would she be appalled by his phoenix or numbers? Or would she have kissed them away, just as he had instantly, overwhelmingly, desired to do for hers? 

Maybe it was for the best that he was damnably bad with words. There could be no way to express the vortex of feelings she was giving him. Just running beside her had sent his blood pumping and, by the end, his mind plummeting into the gutter. How much worse now that he knew she was so similar to him? How could he say he had been searching for someone who could understand, who _knew_ what it was like? 

No, it was too much to hope for. She had fled the city to come here, and now he was dragging all that horror back. It was best that their relationship, whatever it was, ended here, at the base of her father's apartment. No matter how much he might wish for a different end.

\------------------------------------ 

Carefully Guy and Hyruma sneaked around the block, having hidden Hyruma's jeep around the corner. The wrestler lived close by, and so he'd easily been able to track their quarry through the side-streets, arriving just in time to see Jay push out the kickstand and taxi to the curb. Even from six yards away, the seniors could see the pause between the couple disembarking, and what must have been a half-hug from the girl.

The gesture seemed to make Jay freeze, and the boys had to hid a chuckle at the way his mind must have shuddered to a stop. Guy got the same feeling every time Mikoto kissed him. Probably the only reason they couldn't see the other man's blush from here was because of the green hair plastered on his face.

There was another rumble of thunder, closer this time, and Hyruma looked worriedly at the clouds. He _really_ didn't want to explain to his parents why he'd tracked water across their new floor. But Guy didn't seem to care, still watching his cousin and her beau closely, straining to hear their voices over the wind.

At least, he would have been, but the two didn't seem to be talking. Renais simply slipped her leg over the bike in one practiced motion, no hint of the half-hug or the shared intimacy of the ride in her motions. Her bag was in the side car, shoved behind her book-bag and her companion's supplies. She didn't talk as she unearthed it. As for Jay...he was just as silent. He didn't seem to know what to say, or where to look. Instead he watched, arms crossed, as she pulled the duffle out of the sidecar with a tug, and then looked away, face set in a grim line.

Hyruma could have groaned. He'd coaxed enough underclassmen into making their love confessions - this one had all the signs of a terrible one. Both parties clearly were interested in the other, both had much in common (though the wrestler hadn't realized how much), and if they would just _talk_ to each-other he'd be happy to drag Guy away and leave them to their tryst. Guy's straight-laced sensibilities aside, even he could see those two were made for each-other. Hadn't he and Mikoto been planning just this for the last two months? Sure, Jay and Renais might go way farther than the council president and vice-president would dream of before marriage, but Hyruma wasn't going to say that was wrong. From what he knew of Renais, she needed someone she could open up to, instead of remaining the silent, brooding girl that had transferred just last year. And Jay had hardly spoken one word in all the time he'd been at the school. He didn't participate in the practices, only hanging around to coach the younger kids while looking longingly out at the sky. Not that different from the way Renais stared at the horizon when she ran.

Clearly, both were running from something. And words didn't come easy to them. But somehow they'd gotten this far...if only there was some way to coax them the rest of the way.

Hyruma sighed. If only they hadn't been interrupted. Kids like that needed to be physical first, and then talk later. You couldn't really lie about passion, and the sexual tension hanging between the two of them was almost as heavy as the feeling of rain in the air. _Damn_ Guy. If only he'd shown a little bit more tact...

\--------------------------- 

"So...you coming back next year?"

Jay shook his head, concentrating on the storm rather than on the blank expression on his companion.

"Graduating. Senior, remember?"

"Oh."

He didn't catch the look of disappointment on Renais's face, just like she didn't see the misery in his concealed eyes.

"Then...I suppose this is goodbye."

He nodded once, feeling his heart sink. Yes, this was the proper thing to do. Now they could go back to their normal lives, he to caring for his brother and she to her innocent suburban life. No more memories of the past or cracks in carefully constructed facades.

It was dangerous to let people in. He knew that, she knew that. It was so easy for lovers to manipulate and damage. Better to keep a wall up between oneself and the world. He was a danger to her wall, just as she was a danger to his. In the few months he'd known her he'd caught himself almost speaking dozens of times. What would happen had they gotten any closer?

No. He couldn't risk putting her in danger. Arma was enough to look after.

So, as Hyruma groaned in the background and Guy began texting an SOS to Mikoto, Jay swung a leg back over the side of his bike and started it.

And as if the heavens reflected the misery in his heart, the sky opened up just as Renais started to speak. 

\---------------------- 

"Shit!" Hyruma ducked and bolted to his car, his keys already in his hands. Sure, it was a pity the two loners hadn't hit it off, but there was little he could do about it. Maybe Guy and Mikoto could dream up some scheme to push them back together, but in Hyruma's experience the magic didn't happen twice. Next time it would be harder for both of them to open up, and they'd both pine for a while before realizing that no person could be as perfect as the image they'd created of the other. Then it was struggling to find someone benign enough to be casually dated, and only years down the line would they be ready for something serious. But such was the way of things.

Guy didn't seem to agree, but he had trudged back to the car anyways. Four feet was all it took to leave his long hair looking bedraggled and his normally cheerful expression to wash away.

He crouched in the seat, drumming his fingers against the door, sighing as Hyruma started the car.

"They were perfect."

Hyruma shrugged. "One in a million, probably. But I'm she'll find someone else eventually."

"Not like Jay. He's strong and smart and quiet. He won't underestimate her or expect more than she can give."

Hyruma looked surprised. "You and Mikoto figured it all out, huh?"

Guy sighed again. "Not well enough. Now it'd take a miracle to make it work." 

As Hyruma drove out onto the street he patted Guy on the knee.

"Maybe so. But don't you think those two are about due for one?"

\--------------------------------------- 

"I thought it was amazing, what you did for your brother."

She had to shout over the wind and engine, but her words hit like a blow. Jay choked and spun to look at her.

Even ten seconds in the rain had drenched her, from the top of her pink hair to the ends of her long coat. Her hands clenched the strap of the duffle-bag and it might not just have been the wind shaking. But there was a determined look in her eyes and she met his, her fierce expression promising that she knew the gravity of what she had just said.

"You had more courage than I ever did. If you're going to leave, I at least want you to know that."

He could leave. He _should_ leave. His councilor had instructed him to flee if someone ever recognized him. But...

There was another boom of thunder, and she turned away, heading for the covered stairs. She didn't stop when she heard his engine starting, only pausing to clutch the bags closer to her. She wasn't the sort to cry or look back. If she had been, the despair would have eaten her up long ago.

\--------------------------- 

"I think the true miracle would be Jay realizing what he's missing." Hyruma said. "There's only so long someone can shut the world out before it forces its way in..."

\--------------------- 

He caught her on the steps, his large hands clasping her arm and whirling her to face him. The shock on her face was palpable, no less than the shock that was making his blood sing.

As always the words struggled on his lips. There was too much to say, too much to hope for, too much to lose. But in her eyes was the same loneliness and yearning his held. How could he throw that away?

How could he throw _her_ away?

"How did you know who I am? Who _are_ you?"


End file.
